India buys discounted Venezuelan petcoke to replace coal

Sudarshan Varadhan and Marianna Parraga
Tue, August 16, 2022 

Smoke billows from the cooling towers of a coal-fired power plant in Ahmedabad
In this article:

CHENNAI/HOUSTON (Reuters) - Indian companies are importing significant volumes of petroleum coke from Venezuela for the first time, trade sources and shipping data show, as the OPEC nation boosts exports not specifically targeted by U.S. sanctions.

India's growing appetite for Venezuela's petcoke – a byproduct from oil upgrading and an alternative to coal - is being driven by a scramble for inexpensive fuel to power industries as global coal prices have surged.

Graphic: India's petcoke use and imports -

 https://graphics.reuters.com/INDIA-VENEZUELA/PETCOKE-EXPORTS/movangdwnpa/chart_eikon.jpg

This could boost cash flow for the South American producer, where state and private companies have increased exports of petrochemicals and oil byproducts, and the more competitively-priced Venezuelan supplies could displace cargoes from traditional suppliers.

Indian cement companies imported at least four cargoes carrying 160,000 tonnes of petroleum coke from April to June, according to three trade sources, Refinitiv shiptracking data and Venezuelan shipping schedules.

Another 50,000-tonne cargo is expected to reach the port of Mangalore on India's south western coast in the coming days while a 30,000-tonne shipment is scheduled to depart later in August, the data showed.

India, which counts the United States and Saudi Arabia as major petcoke suppliers, received its first ever cargo from Venezuela in the beginning of 2022, according to two of the sources and the documents.

A surge in global coal prices to record highs since the Russia-Ukraine war has pushed Indian cement makers including JSW Cement, Ramco Cements Ltd and Orient Cement Ltd to import petcoke from Venezuela, trade sources said.

"The quality of petcoke is very good and it has very low sulphur," Ramco Cements Chief Financial Officer S. Vaithiyanathan said, adding the downside is that the cargoes take nearly 50 days to arrive in India.

Ramco Cements booked two 50,000-tonne cargoes of Venezuelan petcoke, which were delivered in June and July at a discount of $15-20 per tonne to the market price, Vaithiyanathan said.

Ramco paid $214.40 and $221 per tonne for the June and July cargoes, respectively, while Orient imported about 28,300 tonnes in April for $220 per tonne, Indian customs documents reviewed by Reuters showed.

JSW Cement imported over 30,000 tonnes in June, according to two trade sources, ship tracking data and customs documents.

JSW Cement and Orient did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

SUPPLIERS

The petcoke cargoes were shipped in April-June by Shimsupa GmBH, a Germany-headquartered scrap trading firm, which has an exclusive arrangement with Switzerland-based Maroil Trading to supply Venezuelan petcoke to India, China, Pakistan and Turkey.

"We are exclusive partners of Maroil Trading AG and have all necessary approvals of OFAC and the German government," Annamalai Subbiah, who owns 100% of Shimsupa, told Reuters.

Annamalai confirmed supplying Venezuelan petcoke cargoes for Ramco, Orient and JSW Cement.

The cargoes were shipped from Venezuela's main oil terminal of Jose, according to the sources and documents. Maroil has in recent years revamped petcoke operations to increase export capacity.

Maroil, owned by Venezuela-born shipping magnate Wilmer Ruperti, did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The U.S. Treasury Department, which has so far not targeted Venezuelan exports of petrochemicals and byproducts, declined to comment.

Venezuela's oil sector has been under U.S. sanctions since 2019. Washington imposed sanctions on the country's most important global business as the former Trump administration ratcheted up its bid to force socialist president Nicolas Maduro out of power.

Higher Venezuelan supplies have weighed on global prices this year, according to petcoke traders in Houston.

"Those extra supplies have had an impact on the global market," one of the traders said. "They are increasing the offer and diversifying Venezuelan cargoes' destinations."

Venezuelan petcoke is being offered at discounts of 5-10% to petcoke from the United States, Indian traders and cement company officials said.

A tonne of petcoke is more expensive than coal, but produces more energy when burnt. It is generally not used as fuel because of toxic emissions, but is widely used by the cement industry - its largest consumer, as sulphur dioxide emissions are absorbed by limestone.

(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Editing by Florence Tan and Jacqueline Wong)

History uncovered: Fossils older than dinosaurs, and a religious refuge



Erika Page
Mon, August 15, 2022

Discoveries of an old human civilization and ancient animals and plants are enriching knowledge of life on Earth. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom is developing a new environmental curriculum to help safeguard the planet.

1. Brazil

Brazilian paleontologists rediscovered a mother lode of fossils that had been lost for decades. The incredible fossil site was initially discovered in 1951 in the southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul. But without a description of the exact location, the fossils may have remained hidden if landowner Celestino Goulart hadn’t been curious about the fossil of a fish on his grandfather’s mantel that he’d heard came from his backyard.

A research team has since dug 6 feet into the ground, uncovering hundreds of fossils so far that range from pteridophyte vegetation to mollusks and ancient fish from the Permian period, a time that led to a mass extinction and paved the way for the dinosaurs. Scientists draw parallels between that period and today.

“While what we’re going through now is a result of human behavior, the mechanisms of extinction are very similar to those that happened during the Permian period,” says paleontologist Felipe Pinheiro. “We are interfering in the same biogeochemical cycles – the carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle – that during the Permian period, because of natural factors, caused the death of almost 90 percent of species. So when we study this extinction, we’re studying the present day.”
Source: National Geographic

2. United States

The number of young people at Hawaii’s juvenile detention facility has fallen dramatically. Minors who end up at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility are some of the most vulnerable and high-risk youth. In 2014, there were over 100 youths at the facility. Thanks to extensive reforms, there were only 15 young people in incarceration in June – and no girls.

Many young people land in prison for low-level offenses and have histories of abuse or poverty. Hawaii’s success does not mean the state has fully solved the problems facing youth, but reflects a key shift toward trauma-informed care.

“What I’m trying to do is end the punitive model ... and we replace it with a therapeutic model,” said Mark Patterson, administrator of the correctional facility. “Do we really have to put a child in prison because she ran away? What kind of other environment is more conducive for her to heal and be successful in the community?” Nationally, incarceration rates for young people dropped by two-thirds between 2000 and 2018, according to the justice reform initiative Square One Project.
Sources: Hawaii News Now, The Washington Post

3. United Kingdom

Aspiring to be a world leader on climate change, the U.K.’s Department of Education is creating a new national curriculum for secondary school students to inspire environmental responsibility. The natural history course will focus on three main sustainability issues: local wildlife, environmental field studies, and the impact of human development on the natural world. The course will be ready for students by 2025.

Nearly 60% of young people across the U.K. and nine other countries reported feeling very worried or extremely worried about climate change, according to a 2021 survey. “We can make studying the natural world as much a part of school life as maths and English, establishing it as a foundational subject,” wrote environmentalist Mary Colwell, who first proposed the idea of a curriculum in 2011. Some educators say climate change should be taught across subjects, not siloed into its own course; other advocates are pushing for a more robust environmental curriculum earlier on in the school system.
Sources: The Guardian, BBC Wildlife Magazine, Schools Week

4. Turkey

Researchers are uncovering details about civilization in ancient Turkey, as they explore a sprawling city below modern-day Midyat. An underground tunnel leading to the town of at least 74 acres was discovered during a restoration project of local homes in 2020. The site is thought to be a former refuge for Christians and Jews, who were persecuted by the Roman Empire in the first century. Researchers have turned up coins, lamps, and silos for food, oil, and drinks among the homes carved out of limestone, where an estimated 50,000 to 70,000 people lived between the first and sixth centuries. One rock wall bears an engraved Star of David that may have been part of a synagogue. Archaeologists know of several dozen other underground cities across the country, but none as large as this discovery, being called Matiate. Only around 5% of the town has been excavated so far.
Source: The Wall Street Journal

5. Mozambique

A national park in Mozambique now offers a haven for rhinos, formerly extinct in the region. Zinave National Park became a protected area in 1972, but a civil war from 1977 to 1992 decimated the land. Following years of other rewilding and restoration efforts, conservationists recently succeeded in transporting 19 white rhinos from neighboring South Africa to Zinave. The rhinos traveled over 1,000 miles in the longest rhino road transfer yet completed.

An estimated 8,000 rhinos have been killed by poachers in southern Africa in the past decade. Reintroduction efforts give species a better chance at survival by providing a habitat for future generations – a healthy female rhino calf was born in June. The team intends to release 40 rhinos in Zinave over the next two years, to join over 2,400 animals from 14 species already introduced, including leopards, wildebeests, and hyenas. Zinave is part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, linking national parks in Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe – an important initiative for conservation, tourism, and local job creation.
Reuters, Peace Parks Foundation

Donald Trump is above the law. Deal with it, America. Admit it. Here's how we prove it


EJ Montini, 

AZCentral | The Arizona Republic
Mon, August 15, 2022 

Let’s say you believe Donald Trump is being framed.

A lot of people do. So many, in fact, that Trump may never face any consequences for what may be illegal activity.

And we can prove it if Trump supporters were willing answer a few simple questions.
Pretend, for a moment, that this wasn't Trump

Imagine a man, not Trump, with access to secret government documents who takes a bunch of them home with him after leaving his job. This can be illegal, and potentially could threaten national security, so the man is asked to return the documents.

He somewhat complies, but authorities find out he didn’t return all of the documents.

The government asks for the rest, but the man doesn’t respond.

Unprecedented: Trump FBI search brings a political minefield

So the government issues a subpoena to have the rest of the documents returned.

It is ignored.

Would you say it was unreasonable for authorities to seek a search warrant of the man’s estate in order to try to retrieve those documents … if it wasn’t Donald Trump?
How important could the papers be?

Former President Donald Trump departs Trump Tower on Aug. 10, 2022, in New York City.

To be fair, you might first want to know how important those documents were. That’s only natural.

What if it turns out the man had in his possession 11 sets of documents, including some labeled “classified/TS/SCI,” which means “top secret/sensitive compartmented information,” which refers to something so sensitive it is only supposed to be reviewed in a secure government facility?

Would you think authorities would be justified in retrieving such documents … if it wasn’t Donald Trump?

Also, given the sensitivity of such information and the restrictions about where it could be viewed, would you think a criminal investigation into whether any laws were broken would be justified … if it wasn’t Donald Trump?

Then again, what if the man contended that he had the authority to “declassify” such documents, so having them in his possession should not be a big deal?

That would seem to mitigate concerns, right?

Is it a violation of the Espionage Act?

Except in this case, the proper procedure may not have been followed and the man’s authority to declassify would not matter, since having in his possession information that could harm national security or aid an enemy is a possible violation of the Espionage Act. It is also illegal to conceal or destroy such documents in order to obstruct a government investigation.

And since the kind of information included in “SCI” documents could deal with important ongoing missions abroad or highly sensitive technology at home, would you object to pursuing a criminal investigation into what the man was doing with them … if it wasn’t Donald Trump?

Others may be involved in something like this as well.

What if an attorney working for the man who’d kept the classified documents had signed a statement months ago saying all of the documents marked classified had been given back, but that turned out to be untrue?

Would you want the FBI to investigate whether the lawyer and/or his client were being purposefully deceitful when they made that initial claim … if it wasn’t Donald Trump?
Is everyone equal under the law?

Now, imagine the man who took the documents and his associates first tried to divert attention from the documents by blaming the judge for authorizing the search, then blamed the FBI, then blamed the attorney general, then said the documents were planted, then said he declassified the documents, then said the information was privileged, would that make you a bit suspicious … if it wasn’t Donald Trump?

There is always a danger in politics, and in life, for our heartfelt belief in a person to obscure our notion of right and wrong.

Each of the situations described occured during the lead up to the search of the former president’s estate and what happened afterward.

Would you say that no one in America is above the law … if it wasn’t Donald Trump?

Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Was Donald Trump framed? If you think so, ask yourself this

 Fact check: False claim that wind turbine generators only last 3 to 4 years

Kate S. Petersen, USA TODAY

Mon, August 15, 2022 

The claim: Wind turbine generators typically only last three to four years

Wind turbines, which contributed more than 9% of U.S. electricity in 2021, last roughly 20 to 25 years before they must be replaced, according to the Energy Information Administration.

But some social media users are claiming that wind turbine generators – the part that produces electricity when the turbine blades are spinning – must be replaced much more frequently.

"The wind farm in Mt. Pulaski has been running for 3 1/2 years," reads a July 17 Facebook post. "They have been replacing the generators in all the wind towers. There are 100 of them in this wind farm. So evidently the life span on the generators on these things is about 3 to 4 years."

The post then disparages wind power, asserting that a "huge" amount of diesel fuel required for repairs and maintenance.

The post was shared 18,000 times in three weeks, but it is inaccurate and misleading.

Like any technology, wind turbine generators are subject to manufacturing defects or other problems. However, they typically last much longer than three or four years, according to research and industry representatives.

Further, even when the fossil fuels required to manufacture, install, maintain and dispose of wind turbines are considered, wind power releases far less greenhouse gases per kilowatt-hour than burning fossil fuels for electricity.

Finally, while the post doesn't name a specific wind farm, the photo accompanying the post shows turbines at the HillTopper wind farm just outside of Mt. Pulaski, Illinois, according to a spokesperson for the company that operates the farm, Enel Green Power. HillTopper recently replaced 17 gearboxes, not 100 generators.

USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook user who shared the claim for comment.

Wind turbine generators typically last longer than four years

There is no evidence that wind turbine generators have a lifespan of only three or four years.

Jason Meeks, site manager of HillTopper wind farm, told USA TODAY that generators are "typically expected to last around 20 years."

According to an analysis conducted in 2012 and 2013, wind turbine generators have a failure rate of about three and a half percent per year for the first 13 years, Eric Lantz, wind analysis manager at National Renewable Energy Laboratory, told USA TODAY in an email.

Based on this failure rate, only 14 percent of generators would fail after four years. However, the industry has worked to improve the technology in the years since then.

Fact check: Energy costs of wind turbine manufacturing recouped in months

Based on information from industry representatives, Lantz believes generator failure rates are lower now than they were a decade ago. But National Renewable Energy Laboratory has not independently assessed more recent data, he said.

HillTopper farm repairs due to manufacturing defects

While the post claims that all the generators are in the process of being replaced, Meeks said that HillTopper has not replaced any generators in its three and a half years of operation.

Instead, 17 gearboxes had to be swapped out "due to unforeseen and rare defects related to the equipment procured from a third-party manufacturer," he said. A gearbox is a device used to transform the relatively slow turbine blade rotation speeds into faster rotational speeds ideal for generator function.

In addition to HillTopper, Enel Green Power operates the Whitney Hill wind farm outside of Mt. Pulaski, but this project has not required any major recent repairs, according to Meeks.

Fact check: Wind turbine blades can be recycled, but it rarely happens today

Wind turbine company Vestas also operates a large wind farm about 15 miles east of Mt. Pulaski. Vestas spokesperson, Chelsea Sassara, told USA TODAY in an email that the company has not been replacing generators and that the turbine pictured in the social media post did not belong to Vestas.

Wind power generation releases far less CO2 than fossil fuels

The post is correct that utilizing diesel-fueled vehicles to maintain wind turbines releases CO2. However, wind power still produces far less CO2 per kilowatt-hour than burning fossil fuels.

Fact check: Storm damaged a wind turbine in Texas, not a heat wave

When manufacturing, construction, maintenance, operation and decommissioning are considered, wind releases about 11 grams of CO2 equivalent per kilowatt-hour, according to the Department of Energy. Meanwhile, natural gas releases 465 grams per kilowatt-hour and coal produces 980 grams per kilowatt-hour.

"That makes coal’s carbon footprint almost 90 times larger than that of wind energy, and the footprint of natural gas more than 40 times larger," says the Department of Energy website.

Our rating: False

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that wind turbine generators typically only last three to four years. According to 2013 data, only 14% of generators would be expected to fail after four years, and an expert says lifespans have likely increased since then. The wind farm shown in the social media post is not in the process of replacing all of its generators but recently replaced 17 gearboxes, according to the company that operates the farm.

Our fact-check sources:

• Eric Lantz, Aug. 1-3, Email exchange with USA TODAY

• Jason Meeks, Aug. 1-11, Email exchange with USA TODAY

• Chelsea Sassara, Aug. 4-5, Email exchange with USA TODAY

• Trieu Mai, Aug. 8, Email exchange with USA TODAY

• U.S. Wind Turbine Database, accessed Aug. 4, Mt. Pulaski, Illinois area

• Department of Energy, Aug. 30, 2021, How wind energy can help us breathe easier

• Department of Energy, accessed Aug. 5, How do wind turbines work?

• Energy Information Administration, accessed Aug. 5, Electricity explained

• Enel Green Power, Dec. 12, 2018, Enel Green Power starts operation of HillTopper, its first wind farm in the U.S. state of Illinois

• U.S. Wind Turbine Database, accessed Aug. 5, Radford's Run Project

• Yale Climate Connections, June 30, 2021, What's the carbon footprint of a wind turbine?

• My Climate, accessed Aug. 9, What are CO2 equivalents?

• National Renewable Energy Laboratory, May 7, 2013, Operations Expenditures: Historical trends and continuing challenges

• National Renewable Energy Laboratory, July 2015, NWTC collaborative increases gearbox reliability and helps reduce cost of wind energy

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here.

Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: False claim wind turbine generators only last 3 to 4 years

Reed Timmer captures rare glimpse of how a powerful flash flood starts


Water moving down an arroyo in Wilhoit, Arizona. (Extreme Meteorologist Reed Timmer)


Allison Finch
Tue, August 16, 2022 

From a trickle of water running between rocks in a dry, barren, mountainside landscape to a roaring river in a matter of mere minutes: Monsoon floods in the Southwest escalate quickly. Each summer, Extreme Meteorologist Reed Timmer, who may be best known for chasing tornadoes, goes on "flash flood chases" in which he aims to capture the moment that the rainwaters transform the parched landscape into a dangerous wall of water.

A dramatic video recently captured by Timmer perfectly illustrated the North American Monsoon that was in full swing during early August in Wilhoit, Arizona, a town just north of Phoenix. The swift water quickly created a roaring river in the Arizona desert landscape.

Watching Timmer pull off these "flash flood intercepts," as he describes them, is something at which to marvel and as many who watch these videos may end up asking: How'd he do that?

"I've always been interested in the small-scale meteorology including tornadoes, lake-effect snow and flash floods, but I love the hybrid atmospheric and geographic approach to chasing flash floods," Timmer told AccuWeather in an interview. "It also requires all senses -- you can often hear the flash flood approaching several minutes before it arrives."

In the Southwest, states like Arizona and New Mexico are typically arid for most of the year, relying heavily on the monsoon season for yearly precipitation, AccuWeather meteorologist Alex DaSilva explained.

The dry, hard, cracked land and scarce amount of vegetation across the Southwest make it nearly impossible for any water to be absorbed into the ground, which often results in water runoff when rain falls. And it takes only an inch or two of rain to create a life-threatening situation.

"Flash floods can happen very quickly. Since the Southwest doesn't typically get as much rain as eastern areas, it can take only a small amount of rain to cause a flash flood," DaSilva said.

Timmer captured the moment that people seldom see last week. The arroyos, or dry stream beds, in the area were quickly filled with a surge of water, which seems to have no end in sight.

As water flows down the newly formed riverbed, which was created in mere seconds in front of Timmer's camera, the front wall of a flash flood is formed.

These arroyos and slot canyons carry this swift-moving water several miles away from where the rainstorm occurred, which can affect areas where it hasn't rained and threaten hikers who are not weather-aware.

"I use radar-derived rainfall data and target the storms that even have a little bit of spin evident in radar reflectivity," explained Timmer. "This means they are producing a lot of rain and are releasing the heat energy stored in the water molecules, causing the storms to have a little spin."

Timmer explained to AccuWeather in 2018 when he first started chasing floods in the Southwest, as the water flowed through the arroyos, debris came along with it, leading to what he describes as a "debris plug."

According to Timmer, when arroyos haven't flooded in a while, they typically have a massive plug of debris. Due to the friction of the earth, the debris plug moves slower, allowing for the flood to build stronger behind the plug.

"I also target the old burn scar areas from previous wildfires, because they can flood much more easily and often have debris flows or debris plugs along the front wall of the flood," said Timmer. "The debris gives the flash flood even more destructive power."

In a video he captured in 2018, the debris plug can be seen holding back a powerful current of water. His videos are just another reminder not to underestimate the power of fast-moving water. An afternoon outside or a hike in the canyons can quickly turn into a life-threatening situation.

"It's all about patience and waiting for the flood to arrive," Timmer said. "The earth's surface out here in the Desert Southwest does not absorb water very rapidly, especially across the burn scars, so it only takes about 0.75" of hourly rainfall to produce a life-threatening flash flood."

According to the National Weather Service (NWS), more people die annually as a result of flooding than from hurricanes, tornadoes and lightning, and although flash flooding is a specific type of flooding, it still causes a significant number of casualties each year.

Earlier this month, heavy rain resulted in deadly flash flooding overnight in eastern Kentucky, resulting in more than 38 casualties.

AccuWeather forecasters say these elusive videos illustrate just how dangerous flash flooding can be and highlight the importance of heeding all weather warnings and evacuation orders.

AMERICAN COLONY

Environmental groups sue US over Puerto Rico dredging plan


DÁNICA COTO
Tue, August 16, 2022 

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the U.S government, accusing it of endangering wildlife and humans as it prepares to dredge and expand Puerto Rico’s biggest bay to accommodate massive tankers that will serve a new liquid natural gas terminal.

The Arizona-based nonprofit said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ $60 million project would remove 2.2 million cubic yards of seafloor sediment to deepen and widen San Juan Bay’s shipping channels.

Dredging would last more than a year, and some of the material could be transported to the nearby Condado Lagoon Estuarine Reserve, which is popular with locals and tourists who swim, snorkel and paddleboard its waters, where manatees and starfish are a common sight.

The lawsuit also states that several “overburdened environmental justice communities” near and around the U.S. territory’s north coast could be at risk from pollution, explosions and oil spills if the dredging is completed and the terminal starts operating. It noted that the Corps did not consult with communities that could be affected.

“This project will destroy corals and threaten communities and deepen the island’s dangerous dependence on fossil fuels,” Catherine Kilduff, an attorney for the center, told The Associated Press.

The center and two environmental groups — CORALations and El Puente de Williamsburg Inc. — filed the lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and others. They have 60 days to respond, and then both sides would make arguments before a judge issues a decision that can be appealed.

Spokeswomen for the Corps and for Fish & Wildlife Service said the agencies are unable to comment on pending litigation. The Corps previously stated that dredged materials in the Condado Lagoon would fill depressions and create seagrass habitat.

The lawsuit states that the Corps submitted an environmental assessment instead of a more rigorous environmental impact statement and accused it of reaching an erroneous determination in August 2018 that dredging would have no environmental impact.

The lawsuit noted that more than 1.5 million people live in eight cities and towns that surround the San Juan Bay: “The coastal economy Is connected to the bay and its health.”

If the dredging project is completed, tankers transporting petroleum and liquefied natural gas would carry about six times the capacity of vessels that currently use Puerto Rico’s busiest harbor.

It’s located in a bay that is part of a larger ecosystem made up of rivers, lagoons and a smaller bay that cover 3,400 acres and are home to threatened and endangered animals including four types of sea turtles, manatees and the yellow-shouldered blackbird.

Kilduff said the nonprofits are demanding an environmental impact statement in part because of new information on how dredging smothers corals.

“So much of Puerto Rico’s economy depends on coastal resources like tourism and fishing,” she said.

The lawsuit also warned that the dredging project would “hasten damage, weathering and erosion of the coast and structures” including two massive historic forts that guarded San Juan Bay during colonial times.

The nonprofits said a smaller project with more robust mitigation such as the use of sediment curtains and requiring new seals on barges could reduce environmental damage.

“The agency failed to take a ‘hard look’ at the direct, indirect and cumulative environmental impacts of its decision before acting,” the lawsuit stated.

The complaint is the latest hit on plans to build a liquefied natural gas import terminal in San Juan that has come under intense scrutiny. In June, a federal appeals court ruled that New York-based New Fortress Energy Inc. did not obtain the necessary permits before starting construction of the terminal and must face a review by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Environmental groups have long rejected construction of the terminal as they demand that Puerto Rico lessen its dependence on fossil fuels, which generate about 97% of the island's electricity. Natural gas represents roughly 44% and petroleum another 37%. Renewables account for only 3%.

South Africa's 'silent revolution' as those with cash go solar

Mon, August 15, 2022 
By Joe Bavier and Promit Mukherjee

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Thanks to his rooftop solar panels, Pierre Moureau only notices the blackouts that regularly plunge South Africans into darkness when complaints pop up on his Johannesburg neighbourhood's WhatsApp group.

"I have a certain standard of living," said the 68-year-old financial planner, who likes to unwind in his home sauna. "I want to be able to live according to the way I am."

As a worsening power crisis hobbles Africa's most industrialised economy, provoking public ire, President Cyril Ramaphosa has promised to cut through red tape to boost coal-addicted South Africa's use of renewable energy.

But many South Africans are not waiting for government action and their impatience has driven a boom in small-scale solar installations.

"I cannot be without power. It's as simple as that," said Moureau, whose panels power his home as well as his adjoining office. "Every minute I'm down costs me money."

In the first five months of this year alone, South Africa imported solar PV panels worth nearly 2.2 billion rand ($135 million), a Reuters analysis of customs data found. That amounts to over 500 megawatts of peak generating capacity, analysts say.

Once installed, the panels will increase the 2.1 gigawatts of estimated existing small-scale solar generating capacity by some 24%, surpassing what the government has managed to procure in a decade of its utility-scale solar strategy.

"It's completely unrecognised by the government as to how big an industry it's become," said Frank Spencer, spokesman for the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association. "It's a silent revolution."

It's also a missed opportunity.

In a country that requires 4-to-6 gigawatts of additional production to end widespread power cuts, known locally as loadshedding, most systems are not registered and feed nothing back onto the power-starved grid.

And their high cost means, for now at least, they are only a solution for the relatively well-off, deepening divides in what is already one of the world's most unequal societies.

"If you've got money, you can do it yourself," said Solly Silaule, who, like nearly half of South Africans, is unemployed. "But the people who are suffering have no money to buy those panels."

'WE'VE HAD ENOUGH'

Despite abundant solar and wind resources, South Africa's government has proved reluctant to adopt renewable energy. Until its relaunch in 2021, pressure from mining unions had ensured a programme of private, utility-scale projects was frozen for years.

But the decline of debt-crippled state power utility Eskom, which produces 80% of its power from coal, has increased the urgency of finding alternatives.

Tabi Tabi has witnessed that first-hand. In just one month last year, his solar company, Granville Energy, received 349 inquiries for rooftop systems.

"Over the past, I'd say 24 months, we've seen a continuous increase, month on month in demand," he said. "We're seeing interest across the board."

By the time one of his customers, Leigh Driemel, decided to install a 42-panel system at her swimming academy last year, her monthly power bill was running to around 26,000 rand and power cuts had begun forcing her to cancel classes.

"We were going to end up charging 300 rand for a swim lesson," she said. "Who's going to pay that? Our margins kept getting squeezed."

She's now insulated against blackouts and has cut her electricity bill by over 40%.

Across South Africa, private residents as well as businesses large and small are making similar calculations.

Cheaper solar PV and batteries, as well as the loosening last year of a regulation that had required government approval for systems of more than 1 megawatt, bolster the case for self-generated solar.

"Everyone is saying 'Okay, we've had enough. We need a solution,'" said Mark Evans, director of Partners in Performance, a South African business advisory company.

SELL-BACK ISSUE

Advocates of small-scale solar say South Africa has a long way to go.

On a wall in Granville Energy's main office, large screens show in real time how much power clients' solar systems produce. Having fully charged its battery, one home used just 20% of its generating capacity.

"It's sad and it's unfortunate that we're wasting so much capacity," Tabi said.

Announcing his planned reforms last month, Ramaphosa said Eskom will establish a pricing structure to allow those with solar panels to sell electricity they do not need back to the utility, a common practice in many countries.

As it stands, relatively few South African solar users feed power to the grid, and industry insiders say most small-scale systems have not been declared to the authorities, despite a legal requirement to register them.

In Johannesburg alone, it is estimated that there are more than 20,000 unregistered solar systems, most of them residential, an official from the city's power distributor said.

In the absence of attractive tariffs, those customers are increasingly going off-grid.

"They are lost to the energy system forever," the official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters. "It is far better to keep them on the grid, to be part of a working grid community."

A fair power buy-back tariff could encourage more South Africans to register and plug in their systems and give Eskom breathing room.

But it will likely do little to overcome the main obstacle for most potential rooftop solar customers: cost.

While banks are beginning to help, with ABSA and Nedbank offering dedicated small-scale solar financing products, rooftop systems remain out of reach for most poor South Africans such as Prince Mkhize.

He works at a car wash in Alexandra, the low-income, high-crime township located just across a busy motorway from Sandton - the Johannesburg financial district dubbed "Africa's richest square mile".

When blackouts strike, Mkhize can't run his jet wash or vacuum cleaner and watches disappointed would-be customers come and go.

"We're standing here eight hours with no cars," he said. "When there's loadshedding, there's no work."

($1 = 16.2430 rand)

(Reporting by Joe Bavier and Promit Mukherjee; editing by Barbara Lewis)

Long-hidden synagogue mural gets rehabbed, relocated


The Lost Mural hangs in the entryway of Ohavi Zedek Synagogue, in Burlington, Vt., July 29, 2022. The mural painted in 1910 by a Lithuanian immigrant, that was later hidden behind a wall for years, has been rehabilitated and moved and is what experts say is a rare piece of art.

Story, AP Photo/Lisa Rathke

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) —

A mural that was painted in a Vermont synagogue more than 100 years ago by a Lithuanian immigrant — and hidden behind a wall for years— has been termed a rare piece of art and has been painstakingly moved and restored.

The large colorful triptych painted by sign painter Ben Zion Black in 1910 shows the Ten Commandments with a lion on both sides, the sun beaming down, and columns and rich curtains at the borders. Now known as the “Lost Mural,” it’s a rare representation of a kind of art that graced wooden synagogues in Europe that were largely destroyed during the Holocaust, experts say.

“When I learned about the mural and what it is and the story behind the artist, I was completely amazed, and there is nothing like this elsewhere in this country,” said Josh Perelman, chief curator and director of exhibitions and interpretation at the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia.

It’s a representation of a style that was present throughout Europe but Perelman said he has never heard of anyone bringing that style to the United States.

“It makes it both a treasure and also a significant work, both in American Jewish religious life and the world of art in this country,” he said.

Black, who was also a musician, playwright and poet, as well as a sign maker, decorated the inside of what was then the Chai Adam Synagogue in 1910 in a Jewish neighborhood in Burlington known as Little Jerusalem. He painted the triptych — the Lost Mural — in the apse of the building, as well as other murals in the synagogue’s interior.

But the synagogue closed in 1939 when it merged with another one, Ohavi Zedek, and the original building went on to have other uses, including a carpet store, according to the Lost Mural website.

When the building was being turned into apartments in 1986, Ohavi Zedek archivist Aaron Goldberg and a fellow synagogue member got the owner to install a wall in front of the mural, according to the website. Black’s two daughters donated money to have archival photographs taken of the art, but it was unclear at the time whether the mural could be saved, Goldberg said.

More than 20 years later, the wall board was cut away, and photographs were taken and sent to museums around the country and world asking what should be done with the artwork, Goldberg said.

“The universal consensus then was that we needed to do everything we could and take all the possible measures to take out the original mural because of its uniqueness, because it really is a symbol for perhaps thousands of murals and this type of painting that were lost in Eastern Europe and and Western Europe,” Goldberg said.

The plaster was in poor condition and paint was flaking off in many sections. The plaster was stabilized and a conservator worked to reattach the paint. Then a temporary structure was built so that the building’s roof could be removed, the mural’s lathes reinforced, and the artwork could be encased in a metal frame for the move in 2015 by crane and then truck to the current Ohavi Zedek Synagogue.

In its new home, conservators restored damaged sections of paint and cleaned the entire mural, revealing its original vibrant color and detail. Paint was also matched and added where it had fallen off. That work took place this and last year, during the coronavirus pandemic, when the building was largely unused.

About $1 million was raised for the project through donations from local, state, national and international donors. The Lost Mural Project, an independent secular nonprofit, is still seeking donations to replicate the green corridors on the original painting that did not survive, said Goldberg, its president.

The renewed mural was unveiled this summer, and tours are ongoing.

Senior Rabbi Amy Small saw the beauty of the restoration step by step, when she came to the office or sanctuary, which she said was a reminder of how significant the mural is.

It’s significant not only to the Jewish community and the descendants of those early settlers of Burlington, but also to other immigrants in the United States, which offered safety for Jewish and other families fleeing from many parts of the world, she said.

“It’s both a Jewish story and an American story,” Small said, as well as a “universal story.”

Another part of the Lost Mural story is the “magnificent, creative and devoted people who have nurtured its preservation and its re-presentation to the world,” Perelman said. “The Burlington community, the Burlington Jewish community, the state of Vermont, have been marvelous in their sense of the importance of this work of art and their commitment to bringing it back to view.”

Monkeypox can spread to pet dogs, doctors report


A woman plays with a dog at sunset, Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021, at a park in Kansas City, Mo. In August 2022, health officials are warning people who are infected with monkeypox to stay away from household pets, since the animals could be at risk of catching the virus. 

(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)


NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials are warning people who are infected with monkeypox to stay away from household pets, since the animals could be at risk of catching the virus.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for months has had the advice in place as monkeypox spreads in the U.S. But it gained new attention after a report from France, published last week in the medical journal Lancet, about an Italian greyhound that caught the virus.

The dog belongs to a couple who said they sleep alongside the animal. The two men were infected with monkeypox after having sex with other partners and wound up with lesions and other symptoms. The greyhound later developed lesions and was diagnosed with the virus.

Monkeypox infections have been detected in rodents and other wild animals, which can spread the virus to humans. But the authors called it the first report of monkeypox infection in a domesticated animal like a dog or cat.

Pets that come in close contact with a symptomatic person should be kept at home and away from other animals and people for 21 days after the most recent contact, the CDC advises.
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The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Olympic champion Ellia Green finds liberation in transition

By DENNIS PASSA

today

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Ellia Green is pictured with his daughter Waitui in Sydney, Australia, Monday, Aug. 15, 2022. Green, one of the stars of Australia's gold medal-winning women's rugby sevens team at the 2016 Olympics, has transitioned to male. The 29-year-old, Fiji-born Green is going public in a video at an international summit aimed at ending transphobia and homophobia in sport. The summit is being hosted in Ottawa as part of the Bingham Cup rugby tournament. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Ellia Green with his partner Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts and their daughter Waitui pose in Sydney, Australia, Monday, Aug. 15, 2022.   (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Ellia Green realized as a young child -- long before becoming an Olympic champion -- that a person’s identity and a gender assigned at birth can be very different things.

Now, about 20 years later, one of the stars of Australia’s gold medal-winning women’s rugby sevens team at the 2016 Olympics has transitioned to male.

Green, who has kept the same name, told The Associated Press it was the best decision of his life. Realizing that sharing his experience could be lifesaving for others is what compelled Green to go public in a video shown Tuesday at an international summit on ending transphobia and homophobia in sport. The summit was hosted in Ottawa as part of the Bingham Cup rugby tournament.

The only other transgender or gender diverse Olympic gold medalists are Caitlyn Jenner, who transitioned nearly 40 years after winning gold at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, and Quinn, who goes by one name and was part of Canada’s winning women’s soccer team in Tokyo last year.

Seeing so few trans athletes at the elite level and so much negative commentary on social media, particularly since World Rugby’s decision to bar transgender women from playing women’s rugby, hastened Green’s push to highlight the harm those things can cause some children.

Most importantly, it’s an attempt to draw attention to a serious health issue -- some studies say more than 40% of trans youth had considered attempting suicide.

The 29-year-old Green has admitted to being in a “dark place” after retiring from rugby at the end of 2021.

“This is what happened to me,” Green told The AP. “Pretty much my rugby career ended and I had been in and out of mental health facilities for serious issues. My depression hit a new level of sadness.”

He’s in a much better place now with his partner, Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts, and their infant daughter, Waitui.

“Vanessa was pregnant and having to come to hospital to visit,” Green said. “I was having bad episodes. That’s the last time I want her to have to see me like that. But the only way to help heal is to talk about it . . . I’d like to help someone not feel so isolated by telling my story.”

The story has been a difficult one at times. Green, who was assigned female at birth, was adopted by Yolanta and Evan Green and moved to Australia from Fiji at age 3. Recalling later childhood memories of domestic violence, seeing Yolanta being abused in another relationship, Green said “caused a lot of long-lasting trauma.”

“I guess from witnessing that, I knew from an early age that was not (the kind of) relationship I wanted to have, but it shaped me to know how a woman should be treated,” Green said. “I do believe that even through traumatic circumstances there was a lot to learn from it.”

It was also a childhood that for Green was marked by an overwhelming realization.

“As a kid I remember I thought I was a boy in public, I had a short (haircut) and whenever we met new people they thought I was a boy,” Green says. “I always used to wear my brother’s clothes, played with tools, and ran around with no shirt on. Until I grew breasts, and I thought ‘oh no’.”

“My mom would dress me in girlie outfits . . . I always wanted to make her happy, so if she wanted me to wear a dress, I wore a dress.”

Yolanta also helped channel Green into sports, and excellence as a sprinter in track and field eventually led to a professional career in rugby. The all-action seven-a-side form of rugby made its Olympic debut at Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and the women’s competition was held first, with Australia beating New Zealand in the final to win the inaugural gold medal. Green, a flying winger, was among the stars of the show.

All the while, though, the deeper feelings were becoming clearer for Green and really peaked after announcing the decision to retire from rugby last November, a few months after missing selection for the Australian women’s team for the delayed Tokyo Olympics.

“I spent a lot of time after I finished up my career with Australian rugby just in the house, in a dark room, I didn’t have the confidence to see anyone,” Green says in the video pre-recorded for the summit.

“I was ashamed of myself, I felt I had let a lot of people down, especially myself and my mom. I felt like a complete failure, it was heartbreaking,” Green added, explaining the feelings that lingered after being left off the Olympic team. “The one thing that did keep me positive is that I had already planned my surgery and treatment towards my transition. It was something I was counting down the days with my partner.”

Now Green wants to advocate for others, emphasizing the harm that can be caused when sporting bans are introduced and how those policies can amplify negativity toward trans and gender diverse people.

“Banning transgender people from sport is disgraceful and hurtful,” Green says. “It only means the rates of suicide and mental health issues will get even worse.”

Green’s comments coincide with the release of a study by the University of British Columbia in Canada and Monash University in Melbourne, Australia which shows a disconnect between rugby’s leaders and the women who play rugby. The survey shows that while about 30% of women think trans women have an unfair advantage they overwhelmingly do not support banning trans athletes from rugby.

Playing rugby at any level, or even coaching, is not on Green’s radar for now. He’s currently working at the Sydney International Container Terminal -- “on the wharves,” he says, -- but is also studying for a university degree in international security and has ambitions to be advising companies on general and cyber security.

For now, Green says he’s a “full-time daddy, and it’s hard, maybe harder” than anything he’s done. He also credits partner Vanessa, who has a law degree and is now doing her doctorate -- “she’s inspired me every single day.”

Green hopes his story will inspire other trans people to be confident in their decisions about who they want to be.

“I just knew it was going to be the most liberating feeling when I had that surgery and to be in the body I knew I had to be,” Green says in the video. “That was a bright spark in my mind during these dark times facing demons, but I knew there was light at the end of the tunnel.”

He adds in the AP telephone interview: “I knew something that would make me really happy is that, No. 1, I am going to live the rest of my life with my partner and my daughter. And that I am going to live the rest of my life as her dad.”

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AP Sports Writer John Pye contributed to this story.

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